>> most sikhs want to keep their faith. hair, beard, mustache. it's a safety hazard for a lot of jobs required. in trucking they can keep everything and still make a decent living. >> reporter: pandr bought a huge tractor-trailer 13 years ago. today he owns nine riggs plus this truck stop in laremy. [ speaking foreign language ] >> reporter: with so many sikh truck drivers, he added a sikh temple to his truck stop. how many can with a temple? >> not too many. >> reporter: and indian food specials which attract new fans as well. but it's more than a friendly truck stop drawing sikhs to a career behind the wheel. ♪ ♪ recruiting videos that look like nice car in thedriveway. fd f t

is this video based on reality? >> pretty much, yeah. the presentation could be a little eye catchy. but that's reality. >> reporter: a prosperous reality for mintu pandr. people who say the american dream is dead -- >> it's not dead at all. >> reporter: in fact, if you ask him, the american dream is humming along quite nicely on highways across the country. >> that truck stop we just showed you is expected to be packed tomorrow for thanksgiving. the owner mintu pandr srisn't famous for his turkey, but he's a local hero when it comes to curry. here's jim axelrod. >> reporter: behind this hole in the wall at this hole in the wall in laremy, wyoming, is a "you won't believe it" situation from the world of truck stop cuisine. >> if you bet me $100 there would be no decent food of any

kind in here -- >> reporter: well, she would have lost that bet. ♪ ♪ just off exit 290 on i-80, the indian crew mintu pandr and his staff are cooking up behind the small kitchen window guarantees that. this smells like we're in mumbai. not in laremy. >> not in laremy, no, no. >> reporter: just a few feet away from the motor oil, the military hats, the trucker shirts. that's a very familiar smell for indian food. >> that's it. >> reporter: are storage shelves full of turmeric and other spices you haven't heard of. >> this is kasuri methi. if you put this on, you would not eat anything without it. >> reporter: there is a rice steamer without an off switch. and always a full pot of chai. and any soul of any indian

kitchen, the klay oven. >> the flavor goes in the meat, not out of the meat. like if you put on the grill, everything kind of drips down. this way the heat is all around. it's rounded by the heat. >> reporter: when pandr bought this truck stop in 2014, it came with a griddle for hot dogs and hamburgers. >> that's all you need? >> that is' all i need. >> all right, thank you. >> reporter: figuring truckers could get those up and down i-80, he went with aimen you they wouldn't find anywhere else. do they ever come in and say, all you have is indian food and i want meat loaf, i want a hamburger, i want a strip steak. >> so, let me tell them, try this. you're going to have that on the next stop anyway. >> the pricing. >> 99 out of 100, they would cauley want something i ate last time. that stuff is delicious. i want that meal. i don't know what was made, but this guy, he gave it to me. i think it's number 29. >> all this today?

yeah? >> reporter: from cross-country truckers. >> i don't know how to rate it. >> reporter: 1 to 10. >> i mean, i'd say it's probably, you know, good 9. i mean -- >> how are you going? >> reporter: to locals like sheriff's deputy yates. >> if this is the area i'm patrolling, i know where i'm having lunch. >> reporter: both the curry and broader field division comes with it. >> it's bringing the world here rather than keeping our world small. >> reporter: strictly speaking, the restaurant accounts for a small part of mintu's revenue. but that's not how mintu speaks or thinks. >> i would say 5 to 10%, the most 10%. >> reporter: so why bother? >> it's not a whole picture, the food. people come in, they get fuel, other stuff. so they would come in and spend 5, $600 in fuel because they know they can get their meal they desire the last 800 miles here. sp i nraskndil soon l tse sllnd.

especially with the changing face of trucking. since nearly 19% of long haul truck drivers in america are now immigrants. no surprise for you that you can recreate all that stuff in the middle of a truck stop on i-80? >> well, that was the plan, so we succeeded. >> reporter: all it took was for mintu pandr to trust his gut, and those of hungry truckers driving by.

alice loves the smell of gain so much, she wished it came in a fabric softener too. [throat clears] say hello to your fairy godmother, alice.

oh and look they got gain scent beads and dryer sheets too! 150 years ago, a golden spike driven into a railroad tie changed the face of a nation. it happened in utah and joined the union pacific and central pacific railroads. now americans had a way to travel cross-country without ever getting on a horse. and if you'd like to travel back in time and experience the romance of the rails in the old west, barry petersen shows you how to punch your ticket. >> reporter: this was once the sound and fury of the west. a wilderness conquered by steam and coal. in this remote part of colorado and new mexico, on the scene i can railroad, steam and coal

will take you to the west that was. so this really settled the west, this railroad. >> this settled the west. >> reporter: do we see what it's like today? >> we'll see the world as it existed 140 years ago. >> reporter: john bush is no paved roads, no power lines and no parking lots. >> this is essentially a time capsule, 64 miles of 1880. and once you get out of town, it is the authentic west. not the hollywood west, but the real west, the way it actually was. >> reporter: cell phones, smartphones? >> none of that stuff works as soon as you get out of town. >> reporter: its roots go deep. built to bring prospecters for the gold rush of the late 1800s. taken over in 1970 by people who wanted, not just to preserve it, but to give others a railroad experience from a century gone by.

all for tickets ranging from 100 to $200 for a six-hour trip. >> people begin to slow down. we see the west here at 12 miles an hour. and for a long time. >> reporter: the tired chef chris carl ton, corpus christi, texas, sought much more than just scenery. when you look out across this country side, you think you would ever want to come across this thing in a horse or a wagon? >> you know, it gives you a really thoughtful mind of how those people made those decisions. back 100 years ago, what made them come this way. and obviously endure what is this unbelievable splendid dangers. >> reporter: in its time, the steam engine was the peak of high-tech. the 1800s version of the 747 or

the space shuttle. >> you look at a computer now and, well, some wires go in or some signals go in and some stuff comes out. but you can't tell how it works inside. here, if you look at a steam locomotive, oh, this route is hooked to that piston. and when that moves, this turns. when that turns, then this does that. and you can walk yourself through it. >> reporter: those who drive them say they have the rhythm and the soul of a living thing. for 24 years, carlos lalamas ha been an engineer. the job millions of children dreamed of doing. >> we do this on a regular basis. it really is the coolest thing on the planet. it really is. >> reporter: and when you make this thing move, you must feel like you're king of the world. >> yes, i do. i believe i'm king of the world. >> reporter: and the railroad is also an economic engine for the area, pouring $15 million a year into the local rural economy. with jobs on the train, fixing

the rails, and refurbishing old cars for a career back in service. it was watching trains and steam engines as a child that captivated john bush for life and made him jump at the chance of taking over here seven years ago. and h us can say this? >> when i first started doing this, i actually wanted to do it enough that i timely got to where i found it boring. that never happened. it never happened. it is still fascinating. and for me it's great. i've literally gotten to get paid to do what i wanted to do. >> reporter: it is said that the wail of a train whistle for adventure, and here for a steam

goliath taking us places we never dreamed we would see.

let's say you were spending thanksgiving in tokyo. dinner is done and for dessert you decide you'd like a little pig with your cappuccino. where do you go? lucy craft has the answer. >> reporter: tokyo is synonymous with hipster cafes. but at this posh establishment, admission is by reservation only, and there's a one-month waiting list. tokyo has gone hog wild for the my pig cafe, starring a herd of micro pigs. $13 buys you half an hour with the squealing creatures. from native canada, she was in, what else? hog heaven. >> i figured we would hit up one of the animal cafes. and i'm glad it was the pig one. >> reporter: with mini pigs bringing home the bacon, she has

two more cafes in the works. >> we want to sell the image that pigs are not dirty, they're not ugly, they're not dumb. they're really smart, clean animals. >> reporter: ever since cat cafe sprang up a few years ago, japan has seen an explosion of urban petting zoos with more exotic critters. life in the big city can be tough sometimes. when people in tokyo want to wind down, they get wound up in the friendly coyils of a rat snake. the snake charmed are mostly young and female. for her serving up drinks with a side of hissing reptiles is a personal calling. >> translator: i was born in the year of the snake, he said. my mother always said i resemble a snake because i have a poker face. >> reporter: headlining in yokohama is a rodent the size of a labrador. it jumps for its morning bath. it generally does little except

munch and snooze. still, patrons pay for the privilege of feeding it kibble and rubbing the docile creature the wrong way as it prefers. thesere cuter than cats or dogs, said handler. petting them is so relaxing. in an increasingly competitive animal cafe market, coffee animals alone doesn't cut it any more. enter hedge hogs and doll houses. complete with bathtubs, paintings and a candy store. the cafe turns a profit by selling accessories like hedgehog head wear. once they get used to pe, hedge hogs don't get their bristles up, said the d the owner. but by far, one of the most lucrative of japan's new breed of animal cafes features bandana wearing shiba dogs drawing patrons seven days a week, critics saw cues it of animal abuse. they insist it is unfounded. of course, the dogs would get stressed out if they work

nonstop, said the staff member. so we bring them out in shifts it's wednesday, november 27th, 2019. this is the "cbs morning news." whiteouts and blackouts. two storm systems pummelling the u.s. with snow, wind, and rain bringing headaches to thanksgiving travelers. where an airport was plunged into darkness and what to expect in the days ahead. massive explosion in texas. flames light up the sky after a plant blows up. and open invitation. democrats move ahead with the impeachment inquiry, giving president trump the opportunity president trump the opportunity to attend a hearing next week. captioning funded by cbs good morning from the studio 57 newsroom at cbs hrt